30/06/2008 Note: To facilitate international comparison of occupation statistics, a correspondence between ANZSCO and ISCO-88 has been developed. The International Labour Organization is currently developing a new version of the international occupation classification (ISCO-08). A correspondence between ANZSCO and ISCO-08 will be provided following the release of ISCO-08.

About this Release

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is the product of a development program undertaken jointly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Statistics New Zealand (Statistics NZ) and the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) for use in the collection, publication and analysis of occupation statistics.

ANZSCO replaces the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) Second Edition and the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (NZSCO) 1999 used in Australia and New Zealand, respectively. ANZSCO is intended to provide an integrated framework for storing, organising and reporting occupation-related information in both statistical and client-oriented applications, such as matching job seekers to job vacancies and providing career information. The use of ANZSCO will result in improved comparability of occupation statistics produced by the two countries.

This product is a reference document intended to provide a detailed account of the content and structure of ANZSCO and to assist the interpretation of statistics classified to it. It comprises an explanation of the conceptual basis of the classification, the classification structure and definitions for all levels of the classification (major, sub-major, minor and unit groups and occupations). The primary purposes of this product are to aid in the interpretation of ABS and Statistics NZ occupation statistics and to provide detailed information about the occupations identified in the classification. It is not intended as a means of assigning information about particular jobs to ANZSCO occupations.

Care needs to taken when assigning information about particular jobs to ANZSCO occupations because the same job titles can be used in different industries to describe different occupations (e.g. business analyst). Additionally, the titles used in ANZSCO are not an exhaustive list of all titles used by people to describe an occupation (e.g. brickie).

To enable easier and faster coding of occupation information, the ABS and Statistics NZ have developed their own Windows-based coding systems. These coding systems are based on an index (or codefile) of responses given in ABS and Statistics NZ collections. Primary importance is given to the occupation title.Extensive use is also made of main tasks performed in the job.

Further information about ANZSCO, including the ABS and Statistics NZ coding systems, can be obtained from the ABS National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Statistics NZ's Information Centre on 0508 525 525.